I have snap on, blackhawk and armstrong in 1/4 all serve a different purpose. Snap on is the go to and has the best feel. The armstrong is very nice and very low profile, but the square drive has a wobble in it that snap on does not. Not a huge deal but it is a noticeable difference. The blackhawk ratchet is stinking tiny and perfect for tight spaces but the construction does not give me confidence that it won't break. It has a plastic piece to hold in the ratcheting mechanism... but it's a small ratchet that goes places most won't so it has earned it's spot in the toolbox. (I share your ratchet fetish...)
The proto has a 45 tooth count, so it will not feel as tight as the ratchets above that are 72-88 tooth. I plan on adding one just because tho, proto ratchets to me are the meat of the ratchet diet. They are just beefy and usually allow you to get on a nut when you need to. My ratchets above except the blackhawk torque just fine tho.
When it comes down to it, nothing feels like a snap on, they have their ratchets pretty well dialed from balance to feel to sound. You feel like you are using a precision tool.
I'm in aviation, I see a lot of owners who go straight for a 3/8 or 1/2 drive set when they are wrenching and it makes me cringe. A quality 1/4 drive will do so much without damaging things from over tightening. Buy them all you will find a use for each of them lol.
Wow. Thanks for the great response! So much better than the usual "just make sure you buy American" rant...
My thoughts... Not to hijack my own thread, but...for that wobble in the Armstrong head, you need a shim from a stack in a mountain bike suspension fork damper. These are very thin spring steel. I've shimmed out both my 3/8" Armstrong and - believe it or not - FLF80 this way. Both needed it, and both are better off for it! (Send me a PM if you want me to pop a few in the mail for you, or swing by your local bike shop and ask if they have a parts graveyard. Just let me know the diameter of the gear in the 1/4" Armstrong!)
I'd like an older Proto or two, especially if I'm going to get one of the XLs. I have three or four 1/4" Dual 80s, and that's about it. (I've had a bunch of Taiwanese, some good and some bad, and an older Williams that I sold for not really liking it, and a USA Facom-SK that I wish I used more!) I use 1/4" ratchets 90% of the day, and totally sympathize with your views on them. I feel like they'll do for most jobs under 50 Nm!
My problem with accumulating so many is that I don't work in very many tight spaces, so I don't have a need for lots of different sizes, etc. I keep acquiring more, but end up using only my Snap-Ons!
Thanks for the pictures Fedwrench!
